[jscomposer]

Are you saying that there’s no such thing as an individual effect unless there’s a preset comprising only that effect? So if I want to use the “overloud” effect, I’d have to select a preset that has it?

Which effects or presets are designed for guitar tracks recorded from a preamp with cab impulses (or an actual amp and mic’d cab) for a bigger, fuller sound?

[jscomposer]

@planetnine

I have NY Avatar, Metal Foundry and Roots bundle. I also have 9 EZXs.

I brought up Roots because it’s the first and only kit I have that has both “open” and “open tip” articulations on the high hats. After listening to both I went back to Funkmasters and realized that all the “open” articulations are in fact open tip. I was always disappointed in Funkmasters “open” hats articulations, and now I know why. Besides being relatively light, they were played tip only.

Unfortunately no other EZX or SDX that I have has an open bell tone on the hats that comes anywhere near the exquisite tone in Funkmasters. It’s those Meinl hats (and probably Stubblefield’s and Stark’s touch ). And no other Toontrack kit has them. So I can only hope they make another EZX or SDX with those hats and include proper open hat articulations–i.e., not just open tip…

[jscomposer]

Nah, that won’t do the trick. I know all about x-drums. So to clarify, the hats open bell tones in Funkmasters are hands down the best. Not even Roots comes close. But the regular open hats sound like they were recorded tip only. It really frustrates and baffles me why they would only record open tip articulations. The ideal solution (for me) would be for them to go back and record regular open hats articulations. Somehow I doubt that’ll happen, though I think it SHOULD, given how basic and ubiquitous this is. The suboptimal solution would be to use x-drums to bring in a second high hat for most of the basic rhythm stuff.

I just realized all the crash articulations were recored tip-only as well. So ideally (once again, for me) would be they go back and record shoulder (shank? neck? whatever it’s called) articulations for Funkmasters cymbals and hats. The second best solution would be they make a Funkmasters SDX and not skimp on articulations. I only say that’d be second best from a cost and wait perspective.

[jscomposer]

Worthy bump. I’m really surprised that in all this time there’s still no proper reggae/ska kit. It’s a no-brainer. C’mon, guys.

[jscomposer]

I think a basic Toontrack kit with touchscreen MIDI recording would be more productive. You could then import the MIDI into PT or Logic or whatever when you get to the studio. Even if it couldn’t record, it’d be fun and perhaps still productive to be able to play drums on the iPhone.

BTW, I don’t own a smartphone. But I can dream, can’t I? LOL

[jscomposer]

^I think I get what you’re saying. I’d have to download the mic/ambiance/bleed algorithms (or samples, or however that stuff is manifested). But that’s the ideal setup. As it is, I use X drums to put 1 or 2 MF instruments into the Avatar room. So, in that case, the mic/ambiance/bleed is already there, and I’d only need the actual samples.

In other words, allow consumers to buy individual instruments as X drums to put with whichever kit they’re using. Sure, it’s not ideal, but it’s far from “sonic nightmare.” In fact, I’ll bet most home studio musicians wouldn’t think to themselves, Oh, that splash sounds out of place, I better download the whole kit…

…so that I can still use X drums to put that splash in the Avatar room and wonder why I had to spend $179. 😉

[jscomposer]

???

The work is already done. You can even see the individual samples in the kit folders. All I’m saying is that they ought to allow you to buy those samples individually. Again, on the products page, have a list of instruments used in each song, along with a buy button for each. The download would of course include all the samples (articulations) for a given instrument.

[jscomposer]

TMF sounds are completely new recordings and are not in DFH (EZX) at all. Neither are TMF sounds from DFHS either (if you were referring to that).

New recordings, but of much of the same instruments. So for example, you can select the same splash in either MF or DFH, and they don’t sound much different.

X Drums are a compromise that seems to work for most people, but can you imagine a record made with a bass drum sampled in 2005 at Avatar, with a snare sampled in 2007 in Sweden, room mics from 2008 in Nashville and toms from 2010 in London.

That actually supports my idea. So let’s say I only like a few instruments from MF. I’d use X drums to place them in the same room as the Avatar kit. Ideal or not, that still means I paid $149 (or $79 with the holiday discount) for just a few extra sounds. That might be great for Toontrack’s bottom line, but it’s a waste of money for me. In fact, it may actually hurt Toontrack’s bottom line–I’m holding off on more expansion packs for this reason. I can’t be the only one.

[jscomposer]

I assume you’re talking about Metal Foundry? I actually bought that about a year ago because I do write metal, and I was very disappointed. A lot of the good sounds are already in DFH and don’t sound significantly better or different. And much of the new sounds are very band-specific. The kit that came with SD2 is much better IMHO, and for a wider range of music.

But even before buying MF, I had the same dilemma–only a few instruments piqued my interest on the product page. It was actually a tough decision, and I would NOT have bought it in hindsight.

I understand if they’d be wary of posting individual instrument sounds, because people could just sample them. But my idea is a great alternative that 1) allows users to build their own kits without spending loads of money on preassembled kits just to get a few instruments, and 2) protects Toontrack from people just sampling individual instrument sound clips.

Another idea, they could even make it so that if someone has bought several instruments and at some point decides they want the whole set, they could apply the prices of the individual purchases as a credit towards the full set.

I just think it’s a LOT more consumer-friendly this way.

[Author]

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